Omoruyi, my friend

Peace. The V-sign he makes with his fore and middle fingers as he stands on the corridor opposite his room in the postgraduate hall of Obafemi Awolowo University, located at Ile-Ife. He poses with a hand towel hanging down his hand as I take a photograph with my Blackberry a year ago. My best friend, Omoruyi, dressed in a buba with a bag hanging down his shoulder is set for the day. If you had seen him between  monday and thursday, you would have seen a gentleman dressed on a well ironed shirt with dark pants but this day happens to be a friday and like the common pracitice of the university lecturers in the university, he puts on a buba and trouser.  The buba, loosely fitted would endear him to the people of Ile-ife, a clothing that speaks of the culture of the land. 

A native of Benin his friends prefer to call him by his surname, Omoruyi which is easier to pronounce.  He stands in front of his room, on the corridor of Block I of the Muritala Mohammed Postgraduate hall. We are both studying for a master’s degree at the Obafemi Awolowo University. He resumed earlier than I did and was able to get a bed space out of the available ones which could not cater for every postgraduate student. I was working at an engineering firm a month earlier when I heard he had started a course at the university located at Ife. 

I had not seen him in two years since we graduated from Covenant University. We studied different engineering courses. He did Computer engineering while I did Electrical Engineering, though we had to take some courses together as engineering students. I wasn’t quite close to him then as I am now. We only talked a few times, visited one another in our rooms and took a walk to class if we met each other on the road. I remember a day he came to my room singing a song “giving you more than the day before for…” a song by J. Moss I knew. I joined in and we had a great time singing. We still sing today, more than we did back then. I also remember days when I played ‘coal-tar soccer’ on the car park adjacent to our hall of residence and he watched from his room hailing me when I scored a goal. “ Goooaaal!, Kunle, you’re the man”, he shouted to the annoyance of the other team.  He came to my room on a particular day saying one word over and over again. Enthusiasm! Enthusiasm! Enthusiasm!. He had seen a quote made by Vince Lombardi, a great American football coach who won three straight league championships and five in seven years. He has a passion for football, a fan of Chelsea, though you’d call him an awful player if you see him play. ‘You’ll do better as a coach’, I tell him always. 

I had given him a call the same day I heard he was studying a course at Ile-Ife. We talked about the school, the lectures and accommodation. He told me I’d get to stay with him since all rooms had been allocated. I resumed at the university two week later with my sister and he took us to a restaurant called ‘Spices’ for lunch. We talked about the old days and what each of us had been doing before deciding to study for a master’s degree.  “Why Obafemi Awolowo University?”, I asked. His answer revealed more than I expected. My friend wants to cause a change in the university system and was looking at studying University administration.   

His beard in the picture might show an individual who does not take much care of himself but I tell you, he does. I guess I caught him on a bad day. Though he loves to keep to keep it, he carves it into a shape that appeal to people. We’ve had a great time together for two years now but looking at the future, I remember a quote our chancellor always told us. “Twenty friends cannot play for twenty years”. I’m reminded of the fact that we’d have to go different ways in a few months. I wish him well in his in his quest for a change in the University system in the country.